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SAINT AUGUSTINE, 

1 

FLOEIDA. 



SKETCHES OF ITS HISTORY, OBJECTS OF INTEREST, AND 

ADVANTAGES AS A RESORT FOR HEALTH 

AND RECREATION. 



BY AN ENGLISH VISITOR. 



■WITH NOTES FOE NORTHERN TOURISTS ON ST. jailN's 

RIVER, ETC. -- ' ""■<'■ ,r.^ 

. 1 cQ tr o X«2 



PRINTED FOR 

E. S. CARR, Si. Augustine— G. DREW & CO., Jachsonville, Fla. 

NEW YORK: 

G. P. PUTNAM & SON. 

1869. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1SC8, by 
E. S. CARE, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of New York. 



THE TROW & SMIXn 

BOOK MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 

46, 18, 50 GREENE ST., N. Y. 



8i 



SAINT AUGUSTINE, 



A SKETCH BY AN ENGLISH VISITOR. 



Saint Augustine, the most ancient tovv^n of 
^N'orth America, is situated in Florida, upon a 
narrow slip of land formed by the St. Johns river 
on the one side and the ocean upon the other. . 

Florida was discovered in 1512 by Ponce de 
Leon, a companion of Columbus ; one of the en- 
terprising adventurers of the sixteenth century. 

At that period, when the love of the marvel- 
lous still held its sway equally over the lettered 
as over the untutored mind, there was a story 
prevalent, that away north beyond the West In- 
dian Islands there was a land of Elysium, rich 
with fruits and flowers, and possessing a river in 
whose v/aters flowed the Elixir of Life, conferring 
perpetual youth and beauty on v/homsoever 
should lave in or drink of them. Inspired by 
this brilliant legend, and in hopes of making a 
discovery which should far outreach that of Co- 
lumbus, Ponce de Leon set sail from Porto Rico, 
and coming in sight of the Peninsula of Florida, 
and landing near the present site of St. Augus- 
tine in April, it is no wonder he believed he had 
realized the fable of the promised land in this 



4 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

Elysium of constantly renewed bliss of youth 
and beauty. For nothing could look more like a 
paradise than Florida in April. Then he beheld 
it bathed in balmy light, redolent in fruit, flowers, 
and sunshine. Not only flowers, shrubs, and un- 
dergrowth by millions were in bloom, but the 
very forest trees fill the air with the fragrance of 
their blossoms. The palmetto spreads its fanlike 
leaves to waft the breeze, the date palm waves 
its majestic plumes in the translucent blue aii*, 
and the feathery acacia and chaporell tremble to 
the gentle kiss of wooing zephyrs. 

The magnolia reflects the glowing sunshine 
upon its glossy leaves and contrasts its creamlike 
flovrers with the radiant scarlet of the pome- 
granate. The golden oranges hang in tempt- 
ing clusters among their fresh green leaves, while 
here and there peep out their scented blossoms. 

The lilies, in their gi-ace and purity, as of old, 
l)ut to shame " Solomon in all his glory : " 
sleeping on the placid water, cushioned on 
velvet leaves, or dancing in the air highly sus- 
pended on their spiral stems, or humbly hiding in 
mossy nooks and fairy dells ; then appearing as 
the imperial oriflamme, the Fleur de Lis of France, 
clothed in royal purple or gorgeous as the scarlet 
trumpet lily, dazzling with its glory. 

Not only the lilies bloom perennially in this 
discovered land of Ponce de Leon ; the eglantine, 
in its tender embrace of all whom it can reach, the 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 5 

rose, the verbena, and jessamine entwine their 
fragrance and their foliage. The vine clings with 
delicate tendrils round every projecting rugged 
trunk that needs a shade. 

The " best loved West Wind " sighs through 
the pine barrens with a sweet and hallowed 
tone, like the voices of our loved and lost ones 
w^hispering us from the Spirit Land. The red- 
bb'd radiates prisms of light from his flaming 
wnng, and when the heavens, which are always 
blue, are bespangled with stars, the air is filled 
with showers of tire-flies dashing to and fro like 
brilliant heavenly messengers, skimming and 
floating on the vast expanse of ethereal vault. If 
they are not angels, Ponce de Leon might have 
taken them for such, bearing to earth glad tidings 
from their celestial home above, illuminating the 
orange-groves ; lighting up the dark cypress and 
ancient cedars, hung with sepulchral moss, as 
though the wood nymphs and forest sprites were 
holding high carnival. All this and more than 
this of beauty that pen fails to describe. Ponce 
de Leon must have beheld when he landed in 
Florida in April. It may be seen to this day by 
every visitor to this enchanting spot. 

He might easily have pictured in the semi- 
lake-like waters of the St. Johns river the reali- 
zation of his day dream, the Elixir of Life. 

Flowing soft and silvery through bankless 
flats of luxuriant foliage, draped with the funere(\l 



6 SAINT AtJGUSTIXE. 

moss hanging from the evergreen oak, or the 
pine and orange alternate laving in its brim : 
now spreading out to a placid lake where the 
stately pelican floats at lonely leisure — anon clos- 
ing in to the limits of a stream, every leaf and 
spray reflected in its clear bosom, and the pink 
crane in solemn meditation. The waters, having 
a soft, sweet taste, might well have been mistaken 
by Ponce de Leon for Elixir, and doubtless he 
drank it by the quart in the true American fashion. 
But alas ! the proof of the pudding was in the 
eating, or drinking in this case : he grew neither 
young nor handsome. Quisa ? as the natives say, 
if this may not be the original cause of the great 
quantity of water consumed by Americans : even 
now they grow not younger, but considerably 
yellower ; for quarts of ice Avater and pounds of 
hot bread would destroy the beauty of Venus 
herself 

Thus Ponce de Leon became disgusted 
with his paradise, and finding the native Indians 
fierce and implacable, he returned to Spain a dis- 
appointed man. 

In his hopes and aspirations he was fol- 
lowed by other Spaniards, Narvaez and De Soto. 

But the first permanent settlement was efiected 
by the French in the reign of Charles the 
Ninth, after the Saint Bartholomew and during 
the Coligny troubles. 

The Huguenots obtained permission to exile 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 7 

to America, where they are still traceable in some 
of the Southern States, who, nevertheless, m 
their own hour of discord and disunion, did not 
allow those who dissented to retire, but rather to 
force them by pains and penalties to succumb to 
the new established order of affairs. So true it is 
that those who have been oppressed are ever the 
first to turn oppressors. And this fact should act 
as a warning in the present emancipation of slaves. 
i^The French had scarcely enjoyed the results 
of their freedom and their labors in building 
a fort near Saint Augustine, when Menendez, 
the Sj)anish commander arrived from Sj)ain, with 
powers to take possession of Florida and govern 
it in the king's name. He surprised the Hu- 
guenots by night, and entered the fort during a 
heavy thunder-storm. They, never anticipating 
any attack save by sea, had left their fort on the 
land side almost unguarded, and were most of 
them butchered in their sleep. Some few escaped 
into the woods, but were eventually obliged by 
famine to surrender. They were given their 
choice to renounce their faith or meet their death. 
They unanimously chose the martyr's fate, and 
Avere butchered in cold blood, " Dying as their 
fathers died, for the faith their foes denied." 
Their exile, toil, and labor had not saved them 
from the fate of Coligny ; they had flown from 
their homes in France only to rush into the jaws 
of Spanish Inquisitors. 



8 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

The escutcheon of Menendez, the great Span- 
ish commander, is traced in blood, and the foun- 
dation-stone of Saint Augustine which he laid is 
saturated with the gore of these brave and un- 
daunted victims to religious tyranny and persecu- 
tion. 

Blood having been so cruelly spilt at the bap- 
tism as it were of Saint Augustine, seems to have 
flowed freely through its walls and towers for three 
centuries of its history. For it has been watered 
with its own blood from its very birth to its 
hoary age, more than any city on this continent. 
It has suffered more ravages of fire, sword, and 
famine than any other city, and its inhabitants 
have acknowledged more foreign rulers and 
various flags than any other city. 

It is necessary to bear this in mind in form- 
ing any opinion of the present occupants of 
Saint Augustine. Indeed, in coming to any 
ethnological, metaphysical or moral conclusion as 
to American character, it is essential to note the 
various causes which have tended to populate 
this vast and magnificent country. 

It is not a country that has been conquered or 
overrun by a stronger people. The native Indians 
have retired before the white man, leaving little 
trace behind. From the earliest date we find it 
the sanctum of those brave men driven from 
their homes by persecution — of the Huguenots, 
who had sealed thejr belief with their heart's 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 9 

blood. The dauntless followers of Ribault, the 
first settlers of this little colony, were the heroic 
victims of another St. Bartholomew. Historians 
disagree about the number who fell, but it was 
doubtless from three to four hundred. 

Religious and political persecution at home, 
have both tended to establish this great Nation 
more than any other cause. 

But for that, the Pilgrim Fathers would never 
have landed on the wild New England shore, nor 
the gallant Cavalier, South Carolina and Virginia. 
Nor would the Irish and Germans have found 
their way to the prairies of the West, save for 
political persecution at home. 

The penal laws against the Irish in the last 
and beginning of the present century, have been 
a prolific cause of immigration, and have done 
more to depopulate Ireland and colonize Western 
America than any other cause. 

But where a man lives under a ban and is 
branded for his religious or political opinions for 
years ; where the future is robbed of those ra- 
diant tints which so dazzle and delight in our 
forward gaze, which make anticipation the secret 
charm of our existence, the guiding star and lead- 
ing magnate which drives us on to exertion, 
stronger effort and enterprise — when hope folds 
her wings and sits brooding under the spurning 
.feet of persecution — the human heart casts abroad 
in search of a spot where it may be free ; I'ree to 



10 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

expand and glory in its thoughts and aspirations; 
free to worship in a temple or on the mountain- 
top. Such a spot was found in the benignant 
continent of America. She lay with her fair wide 
bosom open to take in all who mourned and were 
afflicted. To gather them in her genial embrace, 
and make them welcome to her fold. The per- 
secuted patriot, loving his country more than his 
own ha]3piness, borne down in his zeal to stem 
the purple tide of tyranny and usurpation; the 
religious enthusiast, braving the faggot and in- 
strument of torture for a conscientious principle 
of faith, and bidding defiance to inquisitors and 
hell's power to pain, rather than relinquish the 
right to worship from his heart's pure inspiration ; 
the woe-begone Irish mother, with her brood of 
starvelings ; the sullen father, whose spirit is 
nio^h crushed to bitterness and evil from the Ions; 
weight of his wrongs ; the timid young girl, whose 
early lines of beauty are mingled with those of 
care — all come trooping with eager steps to the 
Land of the Free. To the land of corn, and fruits 
and flowers. To the land of every clime, of exery 
sky; every temperature for every race. To all 
who are overbui-dened and oppressed she extends 
her snowy arms from the tops of her giant Rocky 
Mountains, and steps out on her Californian feet, 
clad in sandals of gold, to give them welcome. 
She spreads her flower-enamelled lap over vast. 
prairies to the weary and worn ; and the shelter 



SAINl' AUGUSTINE. 11 

of lier pine forests to each and every one. God's 
mercy goetli not out of reach, and his dew falls 
on the feverish eyelids of those who weep. 

To the toilsome, patiently enduring German, 
driven at last to bay by tyrannical exaction on 
his down-trodden liberty, she offers her glowing 
homesteads, with independent, healthful labor — 
her waving corn-fields and lowing kine, wood 
and water in reach of every hand ; her seas, hav- 
ing a thousand miles of coast, cast up their ma- 
rine fruits and store with prodigal munificence. 

Beautiful, generous land, offering every gift 
to man that man's heart can rightly desire. 
Surely Ponce de Leon might have been satisfied 
with his portion of the discovery. 

Such, however, is human nature. He had set 
his affections upon a particular object, viz., youth 
and beauty a perpetuete ; and not realizing that, 
all the rest seemed unavailing to satisfy this 
craving. 

The same thing happens to this day on the 
same spot, where the sweet and bitter orange 
still abound. The fig, peach, lemon, and pome- 
granate refresh the eye, and cool the palate. 
Northern travellers are grumbling every day 
because they cannot procure dirty tap-ioater, and 
purchase lake ice. Ice-water is an American 
mania, an anti-hydrophobia sort of disease ; and 
it is quite certain, if there is not a good sup- 
ply of ice- water in heaven, they will all peti- 



12 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

tion St. Peter to be allowed to return to New 
York. 

They all repined because Wenliam Lake ice 
could not be raised in Florida; every other 
growth was in vain. Ponce de Leon being dis- 
gusted because the water did not perpetuate 
youth and beauty, was yet less unreasonable than 
these Northern travellers. 

Hence youth and beauty a perpetuete^ can not 
be offered as one of the productions of Florida. 
Nevertheless, we can, on the authority of the 
historian from whom we have obtained the dates 
and facts relating to this portion of the country, 
go so far as to state that at the period of the 
evacuation by the Spaniards, numbers of the in- 
habitants left the city who were over one hun- 
dred years of age ; and there still lives in the 
town of St. Augustine a negro who is said to be 
one hundred and eighteen. 

Apropos of beauty, where all nature is so 
lovely, it would be an anomaly for human nature 
to form an exception. 

As regards all those adjuncts which make our 
exterior life enjoyable, Florida abounds in a 
larger share than any climate I have visited ; 
and St. Augustine, with her cool sea breeze and 
cloudless sun, is doubtless the I]den of Florida. 
Had Ponce de Leon only had the good fortune, 
like his great forefather, to espy an Eve mirror- 
ing herself in the blue waters of the bay, and 



SAIJST AUaUSTIJNE. 13 

enamored of the reflection, be would no doubt 
have followed suit and not only proclaimed it a 
paradise but inhabited by Pens. So it is that 
" Man never is but always to be blest." He, find- 
ing the Indian squaws the reverse of Venuses, and 
the men more like unto Mars, returned, we are told, 
disconsolate to Spain, ^n 1580, shortly after the 
death of Menendez, St. Augustine was attacked 
by the celebrated English Admiral, Sir Francis 
Drake. But after some inefiectual attempts to dis- 
lodge the Spaniards from the fortifications which 
they had established there, he abandoned the siege, 
and sailed on his voyage. 

About this period, the Franciscan missionaries 
came to this country, with the purpose of Chris- 
tianizing the natives. They settled in St. Augus- 
tine, where they built the first church at the In- 
dian village of Talmato, v/here the burying-ground 
remains to the present time, most interesting to 
visit, from the old Spanish tombs which remain 
almost perfect. They are constructed of the 
Coquma stone or shell, and bear a strong resem- 
blance to some of the Egyptian sarcophagi or 
stone coffins. Some of them were cut out from 
a solid piece, the lid consisting of a large slab. 
Some were put together in slabs and partly buried 
in the earth. It is also interesting as the site of 
the first martyr to religious zeal, the first Fran- 
ciscan monk. This order, the rivals of the Jesuits, 
in pioneering Christianity and civilization, were 



14 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

indefatigable in their endeavors to civilize the 
Indians, and for some time apparently succeeded. 
But there seems to be something in the nature of 
the red men of the forest which bids defiance both 
to religion and cultivation, and is incompatible 
with either. 

Three centuries have now well nigh elapsed, 
of continued effort ; but the Indian tribes remain 
as wild and primitive as the trees of their own 
forests. 

It was in vain that the Padre Corpa, the fore- 
most of the missionary band, rejoiced in the con- 
version of one of the chiefs with all his tribe. 
Having dared to lecture his new convert 
upon the unchristian number of his wives, his 
doom v>^as passed. He was barbarously murder- 
ed at the foot of his own altar, as he was prepar- 
ing to celebrated mass, by the chief and his tribe, 
the devoted Padre stipulating in his sublime 
agony only for sufficient time to perform the ser- 
vice, which was accorded, his executioners lying 
around whilst he prayed for their forgiveness for 
the last time, and gloating over their prey like 
famished wolves, and glaring upon him with the 
eyes of the hyena. No sooner v/as the service con- 
cluded and he turned to give them his benedic- 
tion, than they rushed up him and tore him limb 
from lirnb, his head being the only portion of him 
ever found by his brethren. 

This act alone was in itself a startling proof 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 15 

that no sentiment of Christianity had ever enter- 
ed their savage breasts and in all jDrobability 
never would. The spirit of Christianity is in- 
comprehensible to them. 

The devoted missionaries, however, v/ere not 
of this opinion. They steadily pursued their sa- 
cred calling, building over twenty churches and 
mission-houses through Florida. Their head 
house, the Franciscan Convent, is now the hand- 
somest building in St. Augustine, having been 
renovated and turned into a barrack ibr the 
Union troops. It is still claimed as the property 
of the Church, and the matter is one of intermin- 
able litigation. The next handsomest building is 
the Convent of the Sisters of Mercy, which has 
recently been erected. The castle or fort, the 
most picturesque, was built in 1620, principally by 
the forced labor of the Indians, who, for sixty 
years, were compelled to work as servants to the 
Spaniards. This is more than the Americans have 
ever been able to make them do, even for them- 
selves ; for the Indians consider it an indignity to 
labor ; and, up to the present day, neither argu- 
ment, persuasive or forcible, has had the eifect of 
inducing them to live otherwise than in the com- 
plete simplicity of unsophisticated nature. They 
will neither construct nor provide for the future. 
They will live upon the produce of the land, as 
provided by nature, and upon the animals which 
come within their power to destroy for food. 



16 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

Any thing which we call improvement and culti- 
vation, they are averse to ; and when pressed upon 
them, they retire further and further back to their 
fastnesses and mountains, but cannot be brought 
to adopt the ideas of the white man, or amalgamate 
with him in social intercourse. These were the 
primitive inhabitants of St. Augustine, then under 
the name of Talmato, when the Spaniards first took 
possession. 

In 1665, the town of St. Augustine was again 
besieged and captured, in spite of the castle and 
fort, which was then octagon and flanked by 
round towers, still in existence. 

This time the unfortunate little town was cap- 
tured and destroyed by an English buccaneer, 
cruising upon his own account, in search of booty 
and adventure. 

Upon these occasions, which appear to have 
been not unfrequent at poor St. Augustine, it was 
the custom of the inhabitants to retire into the 
fortress, carrying with them all their household 
goods which were portable, and leaving the town 
to the mercy of the invaders, or, in other words, 
to be ransacked and destroyed. It would there- 
fore be difficult to determine at what precise pe-. 
riod any particular part of St. Augustine was 
built. 

After the retiring of the buccaneer, the un- 
happy inhabitants were beset by the sea on the 
other side, against whose encroachments they were 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 17 

obliged to build a sea-wall, the remains of which 
are still visible on Bay-street, much within the 
limits of the present one, constructed at a much 
later date, and now the fashionable promenade, 
being about four feet broad, and extending the 
whole way from the fort to the barracks — a dis- 
tance of more than a mile. Admitting only of 
two abreast, it is naturally the favorite resort of 
lovers, who thus enjoy the sea-air and the pic- 
turesque little bay. 

In 1681, the famous "Friend," William Penn, 
obtained, from Charles 11. of England, a grant of 
land in Florida, which he strove to colonize — 
it is to be hoped, from his principles and char- 
acter — by other means than by fire or sword, like 
most of the colonizers of this period. He did not 
interfere with St. Augustine. 

But in 1702, England being at war with Spain, 
the colonies seized this opportunity to have another 
skirmish with little Spanish St. Augustine. The 
English, under Governor Moore, once more took 
possession of ,the town, driving the inhabitants 
into the fortress, which resisted the attack of the 
enemy. After remaining and devastating the place 
for a month, they were frightened away by the 
appearance, in the offing, of two ships, which they 
mistook for Spanish men-of-war. They at once 
prepared to decamp, and marched overland to 
Charleston, a distance of three hundred miles, 
burning all that was combustible before leaving. 



18 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

The vicissitudes of the picturesque little town 
seem, about 1712, to have been varied by a 
famine, owing to the non-arrival of the vessels 
from Spain, carrying the usual supplies upon 
which they depended for their support. So that, 
after one hundred years' settlement, they were 
still unable to supply themselves with the neces- 
saries of life, in a land abounding in fish, fowl, 
game, fruit, and vegetables. Still stranger to re- 
late, at the present time, a century and a half 
later, almost every thing is supplied from the 
north, and northern energy and capital furnish 
much that is produced on the spot. 

Spaniards were never good colonizers, and 
rarely did more than simply stagnate upon the 
country they took by conquest or otherwise. 
The dolce far niente is still prevalent in St. Au- 
gustine to the present time ; and, having once 
had their orange-groves destroyed by some acci- 
dental frost, which had lost its way and come 
there, they consider this a sufficient reason for 
never planting or grafting any more. But war's 
waste and ravages were not at an end for St. Au- 
gustine, and seem never to have been ; for at 
the period of the late war of Secession, she had to 
change hands three times. 

In 1725, a party under Col. Palmer, from Char- 
leston, made another incursion — the town falling 
a prey. They burned, killed, and destroyed, and 
then departed. Again, eight years later. Ogle- 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 19 

tliorpe laid siege to the place in regular form, 
planting his batteries upon the island of Anastasia, 
and bombarding both fort and town therefrom. 
This was the most formidable siege which St. 
Augustine had ever sustained, and it lasted several 
months — the enemy having at length to retire, 
leaving the fort uncaptured. Previous to this, the 
fort had been put in a thorough state of defence. 
The ramparts had been heightened, bomb-proof 
vaults constructed, entrenchments thrown up, and 
ravelins projected. The fort then presented a 
formidable appearance, and, although upon a 
small scale, it was considered as impregnable as 
any in Europe. Events realized this supposition ; 
for although Gen. Oglethor23e was considered one 
of the greatest commanders of that day, and 
although he displayed great talent and perseve- 
rance, sparing no expense or effort, the fort, then 
called San Juan, withstood him, and although sub- 
jected to more than a score of attacks, it never 
once yielded or fell into the hands of its besiegers. 
With the exception of again laying the towm in 
ruins, and nearly starving out the garrison and 
inhabitants refuged in the fort, amounting to 
2,500, Gen. Oglethorpe was no more successful 
than his predecessors, and had finally to abandon 
his position. 

In spite of this failure, he with true British 
pertinacity made a detour by land, some two 
years later, and appearing with a large army 



20 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

before the fort, with drums heating and flags 
flying, dared the garrison to come out and give 
battle. The Spaniards, believing " discretion to 
be the better part of valor," and choosing to leave 
well alone^ declined the challenge : and the 
haughty general had ignominiously to walk back 
again to Charleston. Reflection would doubtless 
come, on the 800 mile road, for British foot was 
never set within the brave little fort until it was 
ceded by treaty in 1763. 

Slavery, even at this early period, was showing 
itself the apple of discord of this distracted land. 
The excuse or pretext for these continual attacks 
was the accusation that the Spaniards inveigled 
and retained slaves belonging to the British, and 
they stormed the place with a view of recovering 
them. Slavery was also the actual cause of the 
long Floridian war which desolated the country 
for so many years. And Slavery has, alas, del- 
uged not only Florida but the whole of this fair 
continent in blood. Pray heaven that this hydra- 
headed monster in this last great struggle has 
bled itself to death. Its history in peace or war 
is written in human blood, not alone of the soldier 
who perished at his post, to enforce barbarous 
laws, or the wild Indian dyeing with his heart's 
blood the green leaves of his hum muck, but of 
helpless woman, screeching out her sad story un- 
der the lash of the tyrant. One breathes more 
freely this delicious air, to know that these atro- 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 21 

cities are at an end for ever ; to believe that the 
worm corroding at the heart of the fairest land of 
God's creation is destroyed ; that the great skele- 
ton looming over her youthful beauty has crum- 
bled to ashes, and that now she may ripen to 
maturity and perfection. 

It is only just to say that Florida and St. 
Augustine prospered more under the 20 years 
which followed of British possession and rule, 
than she had done in the two hundred years of 
their predecessors. 

The exports in indigo and turpentine rose to 
forty and fifty thousand pounds yearly. 

There was no question now of starving to 
death in a land of plenty, as had been the case 
under the Spaniards. Barely, however, had the 
English obtained peaceable possession, and St. Au- 
gustine began to prosper, before the Declaration 
of American Independence took place, and placed 
them at daggers drawn with the United States ; 
and the town was again made the point d^appui 
for the British forces against the American, and 
it was still her destiny to be kept in a state of 
trouble and warfare. 

1784 saw this province of Florida re-ceded 
to Spain in pursuance of treaty between the two 
countries. 

The singular mixture of the inhabitants at 
this time, and the strange confounding of tongues, 
must somewhat have resembled Babel. English, 



22 SAINT AFGUSTINE. 

Spanish, Frencli, American, Indian, African, 
must have formed a curiously heterogeneous com- 
pound — a real pot-pourri of nationality. 

Until 1812 the country continued to be har- 
assed by the Americans constantly yearning for 
more territory. The King of Spain came to the 
sage conclusion " que le jeu ne vallait pas la 
chandelle," that the colony cost more than it 
was worth. He sold it to the United States for 
so many millions of dollars. 

PRESENT CONDITION. 

Saint Auo'ustine is therefore interesting to the 
moralist from its many and varied vicissitudes. 
To the antiquary from its antique remains of old 
Spanish customs and characteristics — its narrow 
streets, projecting balconies nearly reaching across 
and forming a constant shade — its veramdas and 
remains of ancient porticos. The old Catholic 
Cathedral, with its quaint Moorish belfry and 
chime of bells, which, if properly played, as in 
the ancient days, would produce melodious sounds 
enough, but which now send forth the frequent 
call to prayer by being rattled with a sticli. The 
Angelus, which is kept up in Saint Augustine, as 
in all Catholic countries, where the touching an- 
nouncement of the Angel is softly pealed three 
times a day, is here rattled out. If the Angelus 
Domini was as uproarious as at St. Augustine, the 
Virgin would not have cared for a second visit. 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 23 

On Sundays tlie Episcopalians, who have their 
pretty little semi-Gothic church on the opposite 
side of the square, are brought to a summary stand- 
still in their devotion. The minister has usually 
arrived at the peroration of his sermon when the 
rub-a-dub-dub commences in the Cathedral. The 
congregation cannot hear another syllable to save 
their souls, and the ringing or rattling continues 
often for half an hour. 

The fort is of course the chief object of interest 
in Saint Augustine, especially by moonlight, and 
there is not a more picturesque place anywhere. 
Like Melrose, it may be said, " Who would see 
Fort Marion right, should view it by the fair moon- 
light." Few spots are more mysteriously ro- 
mantic. The fort was built to command both 
land and sea, with round towers at each corner ; 
cannon mounted on the walls and ramparts. It 
is built entirely of the Coquina stone — a geologi- 
cal marvel in itself. It is formed of a concrete of 
small shells which centuries have massed together, 
forming a hard rock, but in which each shell is 
perfectly distinct and visible and sometimes com- 
plete as though they had been tightly glued to- 
gether but yesterday. The whole structure, upon 
close examination, resembles one of those toy 
shell castles we purchase for children at seaports. 
Geologists and conchologists can probably deter- 
mine how many centuries it has taken to amalga- 
mate these myriads of tiny shells into one solid 



24 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

mass of granite. It is quarried from Anastasia, 
Island. 

Within the fort are shown chambers with- 
out light or air, which are said to have been 
used by the SjDanish Inquisition, from the fact of 
a skeleton in chains being very recently found in 
one of them. But unless one of the unfortunate 
Huguenots who escaped the massacre of Menen- 
dez only to meet a more agonizing death, there 
is no other record of religious intolerance. The 
chambers have the usual appearance of the vault- 
ed alcoves formed inside fortifications of this 
period. One of these chambers has evidently 
been the chapel, from the altar-stone still in good 
preservation ; and the holy water vessel used for 
culinary purposes at the present time. Over the 
gateway is the arms of Spain handsomely carved 
in stone and quite perfect, and the inscription is 
actually worthy of the proverbial bombast of the 
Spaniard : " Don Fernando being King of Spain, 
and the Field Marshal Don Alonzo Fernando 
Herida being Governor and Captain General of 
this place, St. Augustine of Florida and its prov- 
inces, this fort was founded in the year 1756. The 
works were directed by the Captain engineer Don 
Pedro de Brazos y Gareny." Round the fort is 
a moat which can easily be filled from the sea, a 
draw-bridge and portcullis, with other handsome 
carvings surmounting them. The moat is sur- 
rounded by a broad diagonal wall, forming a 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 25 

delightful promenade, always swept by a pleas- 
ant breeze. 

The Atlantic Ocean rolls into a small bay 
formed by the mouth of the River Sebastian 
and Anastasia Island, whose sloping sands are 
as white as snow, and in some places as treach- 
rous, sinking with the feet of the unwary explor- 
ist into quicksands. Beautiful shells of all de- 
scriptions are to be gathered on this beach, and the 
sail across the bay delightful. The porpoises and 
very good turtles luxuriate in it, and sometimes a 
shark. Plenty of good fish is caught in the bay, 
besides abundance of oysters and crabs. The 
fort appears to have changed names as often 
as owners, having been christened and re-chris- 
tened San Juan, Saint Mark, and Marion, who 
it is to be supj^osed was a sinner, from dropping 
the title of Saint. There is more of mystery and 
romance attached to it than any other place in 
America, — probably on account of its Spanish 
occupation. 

The frowning battlement and picturesque 
Moorish towers from whence we expect to see 
emerge the stately, dark-eyed Spaniard of Rem- 
brantish line ; the little chapel where the brown- 
cowled Franciscan told his breviary, regardless 
of the shrieks of his heretical victims in the ad- 
jacent vaults ; the land breeze sighing over the 
pine barrens, might again hear the rattle of the 
chains and grinding of instruments of torture, 



26 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

said to have been found in this primitive Vene- 
tian prison. The roaring of the sea might recall 
the fierce bombardment from Anastasia Island, 
striking horror into the hearts of the ancient An- 
gustinans huddled together within the fortress 
walls. Visitors linger in wonderment over the 
aperture so narrow, so high up in the stone vault, 
from which the wild and romantic Indian chief 
Coacouchee made his daring escape. His history- 
is full of poetry, marvel and pathos. Scarcely had 
St. Augustine been ceded to the United States in 
1821, when difficulties arose with the tribe of In- 
dian warriors called Seminoles. The Spaniards 
and the English had lived on amicable terms 
with these tribes, and allowed them to retain 
peaceable possession of the best hummuck lands 
for their villasre. 

INDIAN HISTOEY. 

But the number of new settlers from the 
United States wishing to take possession of this 
beautiful and desirable land interfered greatly 
with the savage life of the Indians, who had no 
idea of being driven out of their forests and 
swamps, hunting-grounds and fishing-rivers and 
lakes, for the benefit of the new comers to grow 
their corn and cotton. Hence feuds arose, which 
did not end even with solitary murder and mas- 
sacre, but brought about the Floridian War, 
which raged round St. Augustine for five or six 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 27 

years. Treaties were made to confine the wild- 
man within certain limits and boundaries. But the 
Indian, having ever considered this beautiful 
country as specially constructed for his benefit by 
the Great Spirit, could never be made to define 
any limits or bounds to his rovings ; and was 
very apt to help himself to any crops or produce 
ready made to his hand. In fact, that impossible 
problem of the wild and civilized man existing to- 
gether had to be solved, and the solution could be 
but one, by the disappearance of the former. 

Coacouchee, the chief of the Seminoles, had 
come under a flag of truce to entertain what they 
denominate a "Talk," or negotiation. He had 
been retained a prisoner and confined in the 
Stone Chamber, from whence he made his won- 
derfully-daring escape through a port-hole, drop- 
ping himself some fifty feet. 

ISTothing can justify bad faith towards any 
people ; but policy and necessity Vv^ere the excuses 
set forth for this unjust detention of an ambas- 
sador, as it were, of peace — this abuse of the 
sacred rights of the flag of truce. 

The United States had been at war five or six 
years Avithout making any permanent conquest 
of this handful of erratic men, the tribe of the 
Seminoles. It was like warrino: ao-ainst the wild- 
cat or the wind. Scoured from the land, they 
sheltered in the trees. Swept from the prairie, 
they were heard howling in the cypress swarajD. 



28 SA.INT AUGUSTINE. 

Driven to bay, they could swim the river or pad- 
dle their bark canoes across and back — an army 
would seek a ford or construct a pontoon bridge. 
Their unerring shots whistled through the pine 
branches, and their spears, like the tongues of 
snakes, hissed through the hummucks. There 
seemed no probability of vanquishing them by 
fair and honest warfare. A pitched battle was a 
farce. There was no enemy to be seen after the 
first round of musketry ; it resembled a game at 
"Mother Bunch," who thinks to drive all her 
chickens before her whilst they are all scattered 
round and about. 

Hence treachery as base as their own, was had 
recourse to ; and they were finally partly forced, 
partly trepanned, partly cajoled in going farther 
West, and settling upon the hunting-grounds in 
Arkansas. 

As recently as 1836, St. Augustine was kept 
in trepidation by the inroads of the Indians on 
various plantations in the environs, stealing 
negroes and carrying way crops, and perpetra- 
ting sundry atrocities in a similar fashion to the 
Indians West at this very day. 

In regard to the enormity of these crimes, w^e 
should never lose sight of the peculiar position 
of the red and white man. The one is the natural 
inhabitant of the soil, living upon it as his birth- 
right by the special dispensation of the Great 
Spirit, using all liis gifts for his own benefit and 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 29 

that of his family. The white man is an intruder 
and encroacher, and the destroyer of his means 
of life. 

Looking at the question from the Indian's 
most natural point of view, we might ask, what 
would he our conduct if some great, powerful 
nation w^ere to appear and insist upon pulling 
down our factories and great cities to make pas- 
ture-lands ? It is more than probable that a few 
barbarities would be committed by us, the most 
civilized people in the world. 

There is, however, far more poetry about the 
red man than the black. Novelists have done 
much to idealize him, and associate him inti- 
mately with the dark pine forest and luxuriant 
hummuck. Agile, daring, fleet, and graceful ; 
decked with the most brilliant trophies of the 
bird, beast, and fish, he could ^vell become the 
hero of a theme for poets to sing, or novelists 
write wild stories of the flood and field. So well 
does he seem adapted to the country, and the 
country suited to him, that even at the j^resent 
day, when inhabited by a white and mixed popu- 
lation, and his elastic tread has not bounded 
on his native soil or crushed the wild flowers 
and grass for more than twenty years, still, in 
traversing the vast, lonely glades of pine, or 
sailing on the smooth bosom of the St. Johns 
river, over-laden with dense foliage, one expects 
every moment to see his heron-plumed head-gear 



30 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

peer through the branches, or see the brushwood 
and undergrowth crushing under his agile spring, 
or hear his war-whoop echoing through the oalv 
thickets. 

The story of Coacouchee, as detailed by Gen- 
eral Sprague, in his history of the Floridian War, 
is full of interest and poetry. 

He was the son of a great chief called King 
Philip, and was thus an hereditary chief ; added 
to which, he possessed in his own person all the 
requisites and qualifications of a great Indian 
leader. Shrewd, active, daring, and enduring, 
he was enabled to exercise commanding sway 
over his tribe, and appears to have won somewhat 
of the respect of his enemies. War to him was a 
pastime, and he delighted in the excitement as a 
hunter in the pursuit of game. Often when pur- 
sued to a deep swamp, he would turn and laugh, 
and jeer his pursuers, floundering with their arms 
and accoutrements through the mud and water, 
and enjoyed the sight of their disasters, whilst his 
own lithe figure skimmed easily through. He 
was as fleet as a deer, and as strong and fierce as a 
wolf. He was about twenty-eight years of age, 
slight in person, above the middle height, with a 
countenance bright, intelligent, playful, and attrac- 
tive. After many hair-breadth escapes, and won- 
derful feats in flood and field, he was taken in the 
manner described, and confined in the fort, from 
whence he eflected his escape as described, and 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 31 

succeeded in giving his captors a good deal of 
trouble after that. When he was again captured 
and brought into camp, he was informed that his 
liberty would only be restored to him upon his 
consent to immigrate with all his tribe to Arkan- 
sas. That he must send for his family, and all his 
warriors, who would be conveyed on the ship with 
him. Iron manacles were placed upon him to im- 
press him with the futility of any attempt to es- 
cape, and to urge him to influence his own and 
other tribes to depart. For a time these irons 
seemed to eat into the very soul of the warrior, 
and deprive him of any spirit ; his haggard and 
ghastly countenance bespoke the secret suffering 
of the wild animal caught in a trap ; for to be 
chained, is the deepest degradation which can be- 
fall the free limbs ci an Indian. Death in the open 
field, would be regarded as a boon in comparison. 
But by judicious talk and argument, he was finally 
brouo'ht to understand that his future in Arkansas 
would be free, and even more brilliant than in 
Florida, and that, as his own destiny in that direc- 
tion was inevitable, he ought to encourage the 
other chiefs and tribes to join him. In these views 
he at length coincided, and messengers were sent 
bearing his authority to bring in the other chiefs, 
the women and children. He divested himself ot 
his last and onlj'- garment, and sent it to his broth- 
er, with his earnest entreaties to yield himself, and 
spare him any longer the degradation of his chains. 



32 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

The persuasiveness of this appeal could not be 
refused ; the greater part of his people came in. 
The meeting between the tribe and their chief, 
was touching in the extreme. 

As this is not a history of the Florida war, but 
a sketch of St. Augustine, it may be sufficient to 
mention that Coacouchee did emigrate, with a 
number of the warriors of his tribe, which once 
more left St. Augustine in peace. 

When his irons were struck off, and he once 
more stood a free man, upon the vessel lying in 
Tampico bay, ready to bear him to Jiis new home 
in Arkansas, he stood on the gangway gazing 
intently, and with lingering regret, on the loved 
land his foot might never press, on the land of his 
birth, the haunts of his childhood, the graves of 
his fathers. As the vessel heaved her anchor anri 
put to sea, two large tears filled his dark eyes, and 
rolled down his bronzed cheeks. " I have taken 
farewell," he exclaimed, "of the last tree of my 
own land." 

The existence of a Great Spirit was acknow- 
ledged by Coacouchee and by all Indians, and 
honored most devoutly by festivals, games, and 
dances, and medicine making. To this Great 
Spirit they believed themselves accountable for 
their acts. 

Coacouchee's dream, as related to General 
Sprague, is full of the highest sentiment of poetry 
and spiritualized love and tenderness, which 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 33 

proves that the Indian, amidst all his ferocity, has 
yet a soul for high-toned chivalry, which has made 
him the hero of song and story. They were very 
opposite from the black race, who are neither 
graceful, symmetrical, handsome, simple or mod- 
est, and lacking all the dignity which marks the 
Indian chief — the picturesqueness and simplicity. 
The blacks are rather inclined to the ludicrous 
than the sublime. Coacouchee's story ran thus : 
"The day and manner of my death," he says, 
" are given out, so that whatever I may encounter 
I fear nothing. The Spirits of the Seminoles 
protect me, and the spirit of my twin sister, 
who died many years ago, watches over me. 
When I am laid in the earth I shall go to live 
with her. She died suddenly. I was out on a 
bear-hunt, and when seated by my camp-fire 
alone, I heard a strange noise, a voice that told 
me to go to her. The camp was some distance 
off, but I took my rifle and started. The night 
was dark and gloomy ; the wolves howled about 
me. As I went from hummuck, sounds came 
often to my ear. I thought she was speaking to 
me. At daylight I reached the camp. She was 
dead ! I sat down alone, and in the long gray 
moss hanging from the trees I heard strange 
sounds again. I felt myself moving, and went 
above into a new country where all was bright 
and beautiful. I saw clear water ponds, rivers, 
and prairies upon which the sun never set. All 
3 



34 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

was green ; the grass grew high, and the deer 
stood in the midst looking at me. I then saw a 
small white cloud approaching, and when just be- 
fore me, out of it came my twin sister, dressed in 
white and covered with bright silver ornaments ; 
her long black hair, which I had often braided, fell 
down her back. She clasped me round the neck 
and said, ' Coacouchee ! Coacouchee ! ' I shook 
with fear. I kncAV her voice, but could not speak. 
With one hand she gave me a string of white 
beads, in the other she held a cup sparkling with 
pure water. As I drank she sang the peace song 
of the Seminoles and danced round me. She had 
silver bells on her feet, which made a loud, sweet 
noise. Taking from her bosom something, she 
laid it before me, when a bright blaze streamed 
above us. She took me by the hand and said, 
' All here is peace ! ' I wanted to ask for others, 
but she shook her head, stepped into the cloud, 
and was gone. All was silent. I felt myself 
sinking until I reached the earth, when I met my 
brother Chilka. He had been seeking me, and 
was alarmed at my absence." 

Coacouchee fondly believed in the reality of this 
vision. He declares that he lost the " white beads " 
in the St. Augustine prison-chamber. It is a pity 
they cannot be shown as trophies at the present 
time. 

His subsequent history was not unworthy of 
his previous career. 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 35 

The same officer who had struck off his chains 
at Tampa Bay and seen him safely landed in his 
new home in Arkansas, chanced, in the course of 
his duty years afterward, to be quartered upou 
the Mexican frontier. 

One morning, happening to look out from his 
tent at day break, he was astonished and some- 
what alarmed to see a cloud in the distance which 
looked like a body of armed men ; the sun's first 
rays caught the glitter of steel. Summoning his 
orderly, the officer rode to the crest of a hill, 
in order to obtain a better view of the enemy, if 
such it was. Here he saw a sino-le horseman ad- 
vancing bearing a white flag. This man stated 
that his commander wished for an interview with 
the General. Presently who should ride up but 
the Indian w^arrior chief Coacouchee. He was 
partly, but only partly, transformed into a Mexi- 
can officer. He had commenced his habiliments 
from the top ; he had donned a plumed hat and 
military full-dress long-tailed coat, with sword 
and epaulettes. Then he considered he had con- 
decended far enough to civilization, and the rest 
of his person was still in the natural " state of 
the red Indian." 

Poor Coacouchee ! as Burns said of " Cutter 
Sark's garment," 

" Though in longitude t'was sorely scanty, 
It was his best, and he w&s vaunty." 



36 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

He met his old enemy and friend with af- 
fectionate welcome, and upon equal terms, for he 
was decorated with the insignia of a Colonel in 
the Mexican service. 

He seemed delighted to prove to his former 
captor that he was a great chief in spite of those 
irons they had placed upon him, and pointed to 
the band of warriors under his command w^ith 
exultation and pride. 

AS A WINTER RESORT, 

St. Augustine is one of the most eligible and 
attractive places within the limits of the United 
States, especially for certain classes of invalids 
needing a mild and genial climate. 

The air is ever balmy, yet fresh and bracing, 
there being more or less wind every day, and devoid 
of that moist, oppressive heat which visitors find 
so enervating upon the river. There is a large bath- 
house built out in the bay for the accommodation of 
guests, and is quite a rendezvous for young ladies in 
the evenings, which are always cool, and, we miglit 
almost say, always moonlight. But the fact is, 
that the very smallest portion of moon, which in 
other climates we should fail to notice, here gives 
so brilliant a light that it is really light two-thirds 
of the month. Save on the Bay of Naples I never 
saw the moon appear so large. The planet Venus 
was unusually large and brilliant, with a pale halo 
round it, giving a light as though it were fast 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 37 

growing up a young moon itself. It is no wonder 
that swimming imthese silvered blue waters be- 
comes the favorite fashion of the belles of Auirus- 
tine, and there are few cities which can boast of 
a fairer display of beauty. Being for the most 
part of Spanish descent, they retain something of 
the dark, flashing eye and much of the grace of 
carriage ; they are also particularly neat dressers, 
and among the older ladies the practice of wear- 
ing black veils over the head is still prevalent, and 
also the inevitable fan at all times and seasons. 
Even in church the congregation keep up a soft 
flutter with the motion of these fans, like the 
rustle of trees by the wind. 

Every vegetable, fruit and flower can be cul- 
tivated here with the least amount of labor. 
Oranges could be as plentiful as apples in Here- 
fordshire or peaches in Georgia, if cultivated with 
the same care. Lemons, sour oranges, and the 
bitter-sweet grow wild and form a most delicious 
tonic drink, nearly equal to quinine for giving an 
appetite. It is quite free from chills and fever, 
the scourge of the South, and the summer is 
equally healthy with the winter, and not so hot 
as other places north or south, except the moun- 
tainous regions. The same want of energy and am- 
bition is observable here as in most Southern 
cities. The same reason is invariably given — 
" the war." Before the war every thing must, 
from all accounts, have been in a state of perfec- 



38 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

tion. But the whole South is in a terribly dilap- 
idated condition at present. What with the four 
years' ravages of warj the six years' ravages of 
neglect, and the century of Southern laxity and 
negro laziness, the South is almost as wild and 
uncultivated as though it had only been settled a 
couple of years instead of a couple of centuries. 

St. Augustine must have retrograded consid- 
erably in this respect. It is stated that the city 
in the time of the Spaniards was beautifully kept. 
No wheeled vehicle was allowed to enter inside 
the gates, which are of stone, handsomely built, 
and carved in the Moorish style, containing sentry 
boxes in their thickness. The streets were all 
paved with the coquina, and kept so clean that 
ladies used to walk out to their evening entertain- 
ments in their silk slippers. ISTow, the streets are 
ankle deep in sand, the former beautiful paA^ement 
lying still many feet deep beneath. The sea has 
gradually v/ashed up the sand, and this failing to be 
moved regularly, no trace of the pavement now re- 
mains. Sometimes after heavy rains it will leave 
great holes, deep enough to bury a man if he got in. 
Then, the authorities mend the road very much in 
the Turkish fashion, viz., by making it worse. In 
the latter country they mend the road by having 
all the points of the stones upwards, and the 
usual flattened part down. Here they have a 
diabolical way of filling these holes with enor- 
mous oyster shells, which they never take the small- 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 39 

est trouble to crush or break, so that you would 
feel yourself quite as comfortable iu a rat-trap as 
stepping ill amongst them. The streets are so 
narrow that the poor horses can barely find room 
to pass without going over this ordeal of rough 
oyster shells, and their hocks and feet get ter- 
ribly lacerated. 

There is no excuse here for not having a good 
pavement, as the coquina is at hand, and the 
streets merely require to be paved with it to make 
walking perfectly agreable instead of a disastrous 
punishment. Either your shoes are filled with 
sand, or your ankles scraped with oyster shells. 

There are still to be seen the remains of some 
handsome buildings. The remains of the Treasury 
show signs of architectural taste, as also the queer 
old residence of the Governor, and the old Ca- 
thedral, picturesque from its Moorish facade and 
belfry. But it is probable that many of the best 
buildings were burnt and destroyed from time to 
time. The gates are the most perfect, and the fort, 
all of which have architectural merit. The ruins of 
these gates are quite a treasure to the artist ; and 
there are many other good points for sketching 
and making small pictures in St. Augustine. 

Photographs have been taken of numerous 
portions of the city, and are eagerly bought by 
visitors. But the great disadvantage of photo- 
graphy, for this kind of picture, is that it fails to 
convey the wonderfully beautiful gray coloring 



40 S ain't AUGUSTINE. 

which time and climate has lent, and destroys the 
peculiar ancient appearance of the buildings, and 
transforms them into the unpoetical, fresh, new 
building of America. There are many pleasant 
rides and drives round St. Augustine, along 
the hard sand beach. 

St. Augustine is somewhat of a cul-de-sac — 
the end of creation in that direction, and to get 
back into the world at large you must return 
the way you came — for there is no exit elsewhere 
— via Picolata and the St. Johns river, or by land 
to Jacksonville by the road (now a mere sand 
track) made by the English Governor when in 
possession of Florida. The river steamers never 
come to St. Aug-ustine unless to brings or take 
away troops, for in common with all other South- 
ern cities since the war, it is garrisoned with 
troops, which has the effect, at least, ^^ro. tem.^ of 
preventing the inhabitants from expiring of 
inanition. They also bring a little money into the 
place, which is greatly needed, the inhabitants 
being for the most part in a wretchedly poor con- 
dition, possessing no money, but heaps of Con- 
federate bonds, which are not useful even to light 
fires, where the pine wood will blaze up without 
paper. They are, in many instances, literally 
penniless, more especially the best people of the 
country and in many small towns in the South. 
There is a system of borrowing and lending and 
bartering carried on quite amusing if it were not 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 41 

too sad. There exists a listless apathy, a morbid 
inertness, as of people who had expended their 
last effort — a hopeless feeling very terrible to be- 
hold, hanging over most of the Southern cities. 
They are crushed, broken, ruined, and humiliated, 
if a people so proud can ever realize that senti- 
ment. 

Saint Augustine is not only unique for its pe- 
culiar antiquity, but it possesses a speciality of 
its own, for it can boast of a manufacture peculiar 
to itself. Small and insignificant as it is, it is the 
only town in this country we have visited w^iich 
has a speciality.* In England most towns have, 
or have had, a special manufacture of their oAvn. 
As Sheffield for cutlery, Coventry for ribbons, 
ISTottingham for lace, Matlock for its spar and 
marble ornaments, Tunbridge for its wood-car vitig 
— every town, almost, is celebrated for something. 
St. Augustine is thus celebrated for making hats, 
baskets, fans and boxes, out of the palmetto — very 
pretty and fanciful — and no strangers leave the 
place without carrying away some little souvenir. 
They also make baskets and mats of the strong 
wire-grass, which are quite durable and useful. 
The old-fashioned Spanish lace-making is the 
prominent needle-work among the inhabitants, 
but is not of the best style, and is very tedious 
and trying to the eyes. 

* The author had evidently made a very limited examina- 
tion of the United States when this remark was written. 



42 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

Recently some French nuns have arrived from 
Le Puys, in France, brought over for the instruc- 
tion of the poor black as well as white, by the 
energetic Bishop of Savannah. They come from 
that i^art of France where the beautiful thread 
and silk lace is made, such, as Cluney, Passemen- 
terie, Guissure, Valenciennes and Lille. They 
are proficients in their art, and in their own coun- 
try devoted their lives to instructing the poor in 
religion, a simple education, and the means of 
earning their own living, by teaching them to 
make lace. They open large work-rooms where, 
after the children have gone through their exer- 
cises of reading and writing, they are each sup- 
plied with a little frame or cushion, thread and 
bobbins, and they are taught lace-making for the 
reSt of the day. A child of eight years old can 
learn it, and can be taught as early as they could 
be taught their notes on tbe piano, and little girls 
take a great delight in it, especially in making 
trimming for their dolls, and the first communion 
veil. In that part of France every woman and 
child, rich and poor, knows how to make lace. 
When visiting that part of France three years 
ago, we all took the mania, and commenced 
cushion lace-making with great vigor. It is ver}- 
interesting work, and the satisfaction great in 
wearing lace of your own manufacture. Ladies 
all make it for pastime, and the poor for profit. 
Old women almost blind and bedridden can still 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 43 

continue making the same pattern they have done 
all their lives, and earn enough to keep themselves 
in a tidy little room until they go to a better 
habitation. If the sisters could succeed in es- 
tablishing the same work and class-rooms in St. 
Augustine, there is no reason why it should not 
speedily rival Ciuny or Valenciennes. There are a 
number of young persons in this ancient Spanish 
city who are peculiarly adapted to this work from 
their domestic habits, refusing to leave home for 
any service, but having ingenuity and adaptability 
of finger. These girls, if they were taught, could 
make rapid fortunes for themselves and their 
quaint and beautiful little city. Not a yard of 
lace worn by any lady on this great continent 
which is not imported, and half a dozen profits 
levied therefor, besides the duty, before she Can 
touch it. Girls working it at home, at no expense 
but the raw material, which is trifling, could sell 
it, making a handsom.e profit, at less than two- 
thirds the price paid for it at present in this coun- 
try. In Malta, where the young girls all make 
lace, and are very similar in habits and character 
to the St. Augustinians, we bought rich black silk 
lace (in wear ever since, five years) for exactly 
one-third of what it is valued at in America ; for 
the reason that here, after it leaves the hands of 
the girl who makes it, it passes through those of 
half a dozen buyers, sellers, agents, merchants, 
custom-house and store-keepers. The greatest 



44 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

lace manufactories have been started by one or 
two persons having the art, and settling down in 
a spot. The object of the sisters is simply to do 
good to their fellows. They have devoted their 
lives to charity in any and every shape and form, 
whether it be teaching the ignorant, tending the 
sick, soothing the miserable, teaching God's word, 
or teaching the needy to earn their bread, and 
thus putting them above temptation ; they are 
but fulfilling their vocation of charity. And so 
much respect do I bear to these devoted sisters 
of charity, whom I have known as a body since I 
was four years old, that I cheerfully take this op- 
portunity of testifying to their great merit, and 
trust, with all my heart, that their good works 
may be crowned with success in this world, as 
their earnest, devoted endeavor Avill surely be 
crowned hereafter. 

The hats are made by slitting and plait- 
ing the palmetto, which when completed resem- 
bles very much the coarse straw hats of other 
countries, being lighter or whiter, or it is said, not 
cleanable. But the ornaments with which they 
trim them constitute the beauty of the hat. The 
6road, smooth palmetto leaf is cut into various 
forms of leaves and flowers and feathers, and re- 
sembles the finest Swiss wood work ; frequently 
the sugar-cane flower is added as a feather, and 
imitates a golden Maraborie. The trimming is in 
fact the whole charm of the hat. The ornamen- 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 45 

tation upon fans, boxes, watch - pockets, and a 
variety of small articles, is also very tasteful and 
peculiar, and displays a talent and ingenuity re- 
markable only as a generality in this little spot of 
the Southern States, where there appears rather a 
lack of original inventiveness. Other hats are 
made from a strong grass called the wire-grass, 
which when stitched with colored silk have a 
very pretty effect, and are exceedingly durable. 
Mats and all kinds of baskets are made of the 
same wire - grass, and resemble in appearance, 
strength and durability the baskets made by the 
Arabs in Algiers, on the coast of Africa. The 
manufacture is so similar that it would lead one 
to suppose that the Augustinans learned it from 
the Spaniards, who took it from the Moors in 
Spain, who brought it from Tunis and the African 
coast — a curious history for a basket. 

There is little doubt that St. Augusthie will 
eventually become as fashionable a resort as West 
Point, Newport, or Saratoga, and more vitally 
important than any of the above-named places, on 
account of its life-giving properties to all persons 
afflicted with pulmonary disease, and all maladies 
which require a mild and equable climate. Pleas- 
ant summer resorts are rarely suitable for winter 
residences, and many families and individuals find 
it too inconvenient and expensive to change their 
abode twice a year. The moving of all one's 
belongings, and the packing up of household gods, 



46 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

is often a consideration that weighs to keep many 
a poor invalid in a climate which every day saps 
the fountain of his life, which in a genial atmos- 
phere might flow on softly for a number of years. 

It is no uncommon case for consumptives to 
live for ten or fifteen years with but one lung, in 
a climate such as St. Augustine, where no bitter 
eastern wind ever irritates the remaining lung, 
where no biting frost ever congests the respiratory 
organs the year round, where the summer knows 
no enervating heat, or the winter any intense cold, 
but glide imperceptibly into each other, wafted in 
and out by a clear sea breeze, not keen enough to 
chill the most sensitive, but cool enough to be a 
grateful fan. 

Fully realizing these great advantages, numer- 
ous wealthy families from the North have estab- 
lished themselves permanently at St. Augustine, 
where they live the year round, in great comfort 
and considerable elegance, which the climate 
permits ; going on pleasure-trips only for amuse- 
ment and relaxation of change. Their houses are 
unsurpassed, for luxury and convenience, by any 
thing in the States. Commanding piazzas, inter- 
laced with gorgeous flowery creepers and vines ; 
hanging baskets of drooping moss and lichens ; 
shady walks beneath the orange and magnolia ; 
fine airy rooms, catching the balmy gale of the 
citron from one side or the other. There is always 
one side of the house where, in the height of 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 47 

summer it is quite cool. There is the advantage of 
excellent fishing, and for gentlemen who are given 
to sporting, there is an abundance of game — wild 
turkey, wild duck, deer, bear, and smaller game ; 
oysters in plenty, crabs, mullet, sheepshead, and 
others in great variety. It is almost needless to 
say, that vegetables can be grown in the greatest 
profusion and variety, and through the whole sea- 
son — peas in January, and tomatoes in March. 

Many northern families not only grow all their 
own fruits and vegetables, but have such an exceed- 
ing quantity, that they easily supply the tables of 
various hotels and boarding-houses in St. Augus- 
tine, which are usually full of visitors in the winter 
months. 

Of these, the Magnolia House, kept by Mrs. 
Buffington, is a spacious, clean, commodious house, 
with snug, airy rooms opening on to a wide balcony 
or veranda, overhanging a quaint old-fashioned 
garden, the walks marked out by coquina stone, 
reminding one of some old cloister garden in 
monastic enclosures. It is ever flowery the year 
round with perfumed orange blossoms, scarlet 
pomegranate, yellow chaporelle, pink, crape, 
myrtle, and a variety of other blooming trees, 
gladening the eyes of the weary invalid with 
their cool, fragrant beauty. On the other side of 
the garden, in a green field well shaded with trees, 
is an old-foshioned Methodist chapel, from whence, 
early on Sabbath morning, comes w^afted the 



48 SAINT ACGUSTINE. 

sweet voice of young cliildren, singing tlieir 
Sunday school hymn, " The river, the beautiful 
river, that flows by the throne of God." So gold- 
en floods the light over this scene, so deliciously 
perfumed is the air these Sunday mornings, so 
holy and. benignant is all around, so sacredly all 
nature seems to join Avith the heavens in "telling 
the glory of God," that could one be sure there 
was " peace and good will among men," it would 
not be difficult to believe that this in truth was 
the promised land the little children are singing of. 
There is also a Presbyterian church, and the min- 
ister, like most of his brethren of that denomina- 
tion, delivers a sound, sterling, excellent discourse 
twice every Sunday. 

Besides these is the Roman Catholic church, 
on the Plaza, already described, with the Moorish 
belfry ; and the EpiscojDal church, whose amiable 
and intellioi'ent minister resides at the Mag:nolia. 
Also a Baptist assembly of negroes, which it is 
worth any stranger's while to visit, if they wish to 
form a correct idea of how far Christianity has 
permeated into some of these dark skins. 

There are two convents for the education of 
all classes — -black and white, rich and poor; for 
these devoted Sisters rarely do any thing by 
halves. 

To Catholic families, with delicate girls re- 
quiring a warm climate and tender care, as well 
as education, this convent — which is a handsome 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 49 

builcVmg, surrounded by a large garden — offers 
considerable advantages rarely to be met with in 
a school. There are a number of French Sisters 
from whom they would have all the facility of 
learning the language, together with all the usual 
branches of an English education. 

To those girls whose future livelihood de- 
pended upon their own exertion, the lace-niaking 
would prove a valuable acquirement; for a girl 
able to work this lace can earn from four to five 
dollars a day — sitting quietly in her own room, 
with her little cushion before her — with half the 
exertion of playing the piano. The St. Augus- 
tine girls excel, as we have shown, in ingenuity 
of fingers practised by Europeans. 

Every Frenchwoman is a superior needle wo- 
man, and their fancy-work of all descriptions is 
spread over the whole world. 

Germans are wonderful knitters, wool-workers, 
and toy makers. 

The Swiss — ivory-carvers and wood-cutters. 

The Italians — mosaic-setters in stone and 
wood, cameo and coral-carvers. 

The Armenian Turkish w^oman's embroidery 
in gold, silk, and pearls, excels the whole world. 

In America there is little of this ingenuity of 
finger, unless in St. Augustine,* where it is prom- 
inent, and is destined to take rank with any Eu- 
ropean continental city ; for the same genius is 

* Probably the writer's observation has been rather limited. 
4 



50 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

noticeable, the same gift is innate to the people, 
and will sooner or later display itself in its own 
way. 

Some little incident to qaicken the impetus, 
and St. Angustine may rise like a Phoenix from 
the asl'.es and blood which centuries of war have 
heaped upon her devoted head. America is a 
living marvel for the rapid rise of her new cities ; 
but her old ones need not crumble into dust for 
all that — and such is not the fate of her oldest. 
She will yet stand with pride among her children 
and great'great-grandchildren cities — such as Chi- 
cago — as alert and juvenile as any, only shaking 
her hoary locks, as old folks will, over her long 
experience and wisdom. 

There is a large garrison kept in this city, 
which tends largely to support and enliven the 
place by the daily performance of the military 
band, which plays alternately upon the Plaza, in 
the evening, and the barracks. 

This cheery music breaks the stillness and 
monotony of a small town with a most exhilara- 
ting effect. The inhabitants hear the enlivening 
strains, and sally forth on to the Plaza. Young 
men and maidens, children and old persons ; and 
of course all the negroes Avho can muster. 

No doubt General Sprague, the commander of 
this district, has discovered the beneficial effect of 
soothing and conciliatory policy, for there is no 
man who has filled this very difficult and arduous 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 51 

post with more successful results, and who is more 
admired and beloved by all parties. 

In some towns there are Southern ladies who 
will not allow their eyes to fall on a Northern epau- 
lette, however agreable its wearer may endeavor 
to make himself. But a lady would have to be 
somethino; more or less than a woman if she could 
resist or fail to appreciate the nobility and benev- 
olence which nature has stamped upon the coun- 
tenance of Col. Sprague, and the effect is manifest. 
Surrounded by a charming family, his house is 
hospitably open to all the best people visiting St. 
Augustine. 

The house itself is a most interesting object, 
from its strongly marked Spanish character. 
From the colonnade or veranda running around 
it, you enter at once without hall or vestibule into 
a large room about fifty or sixty feet long, only 
broken by two Moorish archways, over which 
curtains can drop to form two separate rooms. 
The archways meeting in the centre form the 
fire-place, back and front, for each side of the 
room, whose capacious chimney, where half a 
dozen persons might ensconce themselves cosily, 
are ornamented with massive brass dog-irons, and 
in chilly weather a brilliant log fire completes the 
picture. There are eight doors to the room, all 
partially glass, and as the family is large and en- 
tertain all comers, the constant ingress and egress 
is almost like a pantomine, and, render it one of 



52 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

the most amusing and picturesque rooms I have 
ever visited. 

At door number one entered a gay-uniformed 
officer, doffing plumed hat and proceeding to pay 
his devoirs to a pretty girl seated in the shade of 
the archway, where she seems to have expected 
him. At door number two rush in such exquisite- 
ly beautiful children, that one imagines they have 
been made to grace this scene specially ; at the 
third door follows their ugly old black nurse, or 
mamy ; an orderly is waiting at the fourth for 
commands ; by the fifth enter a bevy of highly 
worked up fashionable ladies from N'ew York, 
visiting Saint Augustine in order to say they have 
been there. At number six appear a party of naval 
officers from the cutter lying in the bay. At num- 
ber seven glide quietly in two meek-looking Sis- 
ters of Charity, for all have recourse to Mrs. 
Sprague in their difficulties and trouble. She is 
seated on a couch near her aged mother, who has 
been an invalid, and whilst bending her classical- 
shaped head gracefully towards the Sisters, and 
listening with a placid smile to their wants and 
requirements, she watches with tender devotion 
every movement of her mother. She is all thought 
and feeling for every one — for all but herself. 

Mrs. Sprague was one of the beautiful daugh- 
ters of General Worth, celebrated in the Florida 
and Mexican war ; she is, therefore, thoroughly 
acquainted witli. the temper, feeling, and senti- 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 53 

ments of the South, and thus is a most valuable 
adjunct in this way to her husband. 

St. Augustine has been fortunate in having 
such a military commander, and fully appreciates 
her good luck, for with such an open house and 
the people who keep it, St. Augustine could never 
be wanting in pleasant society. 

Boating on the bay is a favorite amusement 
on moonlight nights, and in the day, boating ex- 
cursions to gather shells on the opposite beach of 
the Island of Anastasia, which abounds in very 
beautiful ones. Collecting sea mosses and lichens, 
is a pleasant occupation ; and for those who can 
arrange them scientifically, it would be possible 
to make a classified album, such as are made and 
sold by the thousand in the Isles of Wight, Jer- 
sey and Guernsey, in the old country. There are 
several good sailing boats for hire, and the day's 
amusement healthful and delightful, even tho' 
"the shells we gather are soon thrown idlybj-." 

Some ladies make excursions over to the pearly 
white sand beach to bathe, in preference to the 
bathing-house immediately on Bay street. 

To Americans who have not visited Europe, 
or only such modern portions of London, Paris, 
and capitals which more or less resemble New 
York, St. Augustine would possess a fund of in- 
terest, from its antiquities and curious appearance ; 
for although it greatly resembles Italian, Spanish 
Moorish towns, it is totally unlike any thing else 



54 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

in Am erica, where all is comparatively modern 
and new. A stranger may form a very correct 
idea of what Cadiz, Tunis, Terracina may be like, 
looking at St. Augustine, especially by moonlight, 
when all its defects are hidden and all its beauties 
enhanced. And it seems to be generally moon- 
light. From the fact of the great clearness of the 
atmosj^here, the smallest portion of moon gives 
a very strong light; whether crescent or waning 
moon, it lights up the place with an astonishing 
vividness which I have only seen equalled on the 
Bay of ISTaples. 

The star-light nights are wondrously lovely, 
and the myriads of fire-flies of such size and bright- 
ness, that it looks as though the stars were de- 
scending uj^on the earth. Heaven and earth 
coming together, which no doubt would be a 
very pleasant circumstance, if it would really 
happen. 

But these moonlight nights are the glory of 
Saint Augustine. So bright and cool, and soft 
and balmy, few can resist the enjoyableness of 
a stroll, or the dreamy bliss of sitting out on the 
veranda listening to the echoes of the band or 
the tinkling of some distant guitar — dreaming 
over all the happiness we know, past, present, or 
to come. 

Evening is the time for visiting, and there is 
a great deal of cosy neighboring amongst the 
townspeople. Of course it is the time for love- 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 55 

making, and to the delicious moonlight nights is 
no doubt attributable the unusual number of mar- 
riages in this place, which seems to keep the 
small city in a perfect flutter of anticipation and 
excitement. 

It certainly deserves to be patronized by New- 
England ladies, where, I understand, there is such 
an overplus of the gentler sex. They could not 
fail to find a mate under this specific of moonlight 
at St. Augustine. One lady, we were informed, 
had been married five times. It seems a great 
number, but we suppose she could not help it un- 
der the circumstances. 

The great desideratum for St. Augustine is a 
railroad from thence to Picolata, so that the route 
would then be quite direct from New York, with 
only one change of steamer at Charleston or Sa- 
vannah. Splendid steamers ply almost daily from 
New York to either of these towns, where several 
fine steamers continue the route up the St. Johns 
river to Picolata, the nearest point to St. Augus^ 
tine. There are at present, stages to carry the 
passengers through the pine forests to St. Augus- 
tine. The ride, to a lover of nature, is charming, 
and not by any means monotonous. The whole 
distance is garlanded by flowers of every variety 
— lilies, honeysuckles, azelias, sunfloAvers, and a 
thousand varieties of small flowers which enamel 
the ground. Through forests of pine on the luxu- 
rious hummuck land of green oak magnolia, here 



oQ SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

and there you may see the milk-white heron float- 
ing in the cloudless azure vault, looking like a 
messenger angel bearing glad tidings to earth ; 
now and then a startled deer scudding away from 
the appearance of man — and to those who can 
appreciate all these beauties, the ride is delight- 
ful. But the generality of travellers are intent 
upon getting there and nothing else ; therefore, 
a railroad would convert the eighteen miles into 
nine, and an uncomfortable stage carriage into a 
comfortable railroad car. 

It is therefore to be hoped that very shortly 
a rail for these few miles will be established, and 
there is no doubt it would be a profitable venture 
for N^orthern speculators to unite St. Augustine 
with New York, with only one change, in a space 
of time of four or five days ; so that persons 
snowed up in New York, shivering through their 
furs, having their extremities pinched blue and 
red, and all sorts of unbecoming colors; tor- 
mented vvith colds in the head, bidding defiance 
to troches, caudle, and Dr. Brown's lozenges, etc., 
etc. — such persons have only to put themselves 
comfortably to bed in one of the excellent steamers, 
take rather a long nap, and awake inhaling the 
perfume of the orange blossom and the golden 
fruit, hanging in rich clusters, ready to be plucked 
and eaten. 

Wrapped to the eyes in mufflers, the half-be- 
numbed traveller pioneers his way to the steamer 



SAINT AUGUSTINE. 51 

wharf at New York, now over hillocks of drifted 
snow, now through slushy swamps of melted 
ditto ; a bleak north-east wind is whistling 
through the blocks of buildings, which look black 
and dreary, as if they too suffered from the bitter 
cold. Every one he meets is huddling himself 
together to keep all the little warmth he has in 
his body from escaping. The very animals stand- 
ing to be burdened or unloaded, have on them a 
look as if they had now once for all resigned all 
hope of ever feeling comfortable again. 

The steamer, when reached, is coated and 
clothed and draped with ice and icicles ; all her 
spars are slippery with ice, her rigging and ropes 
stiff and festooned in ice ; she is united to every 
thing round about her with ice, and when she 
moves there will be a terrible smashing and 
crashing and bursting asunder of icy bonds. 
She looks as dreary as ever a ship can look, 
and of the captain there is nothing whatever to 
be seen or understood but his eyes ; a great 
fur cap and cape join with his beard and conceal 
his nose and mouth, and a coat of similar material 
disguises the rest of his person. You discover 
that this furry, hairy animal is the captain, from 
hearing clear, distinct orders issue from tlience. 
How surprised you are two days after, when you 
are greeted by a pleasant, fair-faced, white waist- 
coated individual, straAV hat in hand, "Fine day, 
ma'am; making sixteen knots,"- aud find it to be 



58 SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

the captain come out of his shell or rather his 
furry skin. You, too, have done the same if you 
had one, and are watching the porpoises play and 
bask in the sun, running in past the famous Fort 
Sumter at Charleston, Avhere the roses hang- 
heavy on their stems, and where you are soon 
eating pineapple and mangoes. Any one who 
has experienced this rapid contrast will never 
forget the delight of the sensation, the sudden re- 
lief from Tfearisome precautions against cold — 
the speedy exit of the enemy who has held us in 
durance vile and siege of his bitter fangs for so 
long ; of the release of the respiratory organs, 
Avhich begin to exert their functions without a 
conscious effort ; of the feeling of exhilaration and 
happiness, and the bound of enjoyment which 
transports the whole existence. 

This rapid change of climate from mid-winter 
in New York to Florida, is one of the most aston- 
ishing effects of steam. We know the enormous 
distance we have come from the change in the 
atmosphere, and thus realize the annihilation of 
space by science. This short space of rail from 
St. Augustine to Picolata, would enable her to 
send her early fruits and vegetables to New York 
and other northern towns, in the same manner as 
Jacksonville and Fernandina, at least six weeks 
earlier, — peas, potatoes, tomatoes, grapes, oranges, 
cucumbers, and every vegetable which will bear 
carriage. England is supplied in this way from 



SAIXT AUGUSTINE. 69 

France, Holland, Belgium, with fruit and vege- 
tables, a month earlier than she can produce them ; 
and there is a much greater eagerness to possess 
things in a hurry in America, than England. The 
northern cities of America would pay any price 
to obtain any thing a little before the natural 
course of time — in fact, to " hurry up " the 
seasons. 

In speaking of Florida as a slip of land pro- 
jecting from the American continent, it will be 
curious to English readers to know that Florida 
is about the exact length and breadth of England 
and Scotland, together ! with a magnificent river, 
the St. Johns, flowing through the length, for 
about three hundred miles, when it is met by the 
Indian river; thus forming a national high-road 
through the rich and luxuriant country. 

A great river is one of the greatest blessings 
to a new country. It is the '• providential high- 
way," which needs no macadamizing; a railroad, 
without the trouble of laying down the rails. It 
also supplies rations gratis in its fish. In the St. 
Johns is splendid fishing for bass, cat-fish, perch, 
and other fish. Wild fowl abound. The stately 
pelican floats on its broad waters, and the sea-gulls 
skim the air. 



ADDENDA. 

THE WAY TO GET THERE ; HOTELS, ETC. 

From New York, travellers have the choice of three 
conveyances, viz. : 

I. Railroad., via Washington, Richmond, and Charles- 
ton or Savannah ; and thence bj steamer to St. Johns 
Eiver : or railroad direct to Jacksonville, Florida. 

II. Bj steamer to OnAELESTOisr ; and thence by the 
St. Johns River steamers to Jacksonville and Picolata, 
via Savannah. Fare to Charleston, $15. Through 
tickets to Picolata may be obtained at a cheaper rate. 

N. B. — In this way the traveller has the advantage 
of seeing Charleston and its surroundings, and of resting 
there perhaps one or two days. 

III. By steamer to Savannah; and thence by the 
same line of Florida steamers as from Charleston— as 
they touch at Savannah. There are two lines, so that 
there is a steamer every other day. Livingston Fox & 
Co., 88 Liberty street, are the agents. 

The steamers now running from Charleston to East 
Florida via Savannah, Fernandina, Jacksonville to Pa- 
latka, are the City Point and Dictator; and those from Sa- 
vannah are the Lizzy Baker and St. Mary's. All of these 
boats are of good size with all the comfort of the 
North River steamers of New York. 

The fare to Palatka, the head of navigation for these 
steamers, from Savannah is about $10. From Charleston 
$15. 

The route from the Northern States to Florida is not at 
all difficult. One can take a steamship every other day 



ADDENDA. ""* 



in the week from the city of New York direct to Savan- 
nah or Charleston and then continue the jom^ey to 
East Florida on a smaller class of steamers. Through 
tickets can be purchased in New York to Palatka on the 
St. Johns River for $33,^^. Five days time is suffi- 
cient to finish the journey. Or if any one desires to 
take a land route, through tickets can he obtained from 
New York by rail to Jacksonville ; where the Savannah 
and Charleston steamers call two or three times a week, 
to land and receive passengers for St. Johns River. 

To reach St. Augustine, through tickets should be 
purchased to Picolata, and from thence take the stage 18 
miles at a cost of $3 or ^4 to the ancient city. 

The largest town on the St. Johns River is Jackson- 
ville which is located some 25 miles above the mouth, 
and 'the next town of importance is Palatka, a very 
pleasant place about 65 miles south of the former 

Enterprise is considered the head of navigation for 
St. Johns River steamboats, and is about 200 miles rom 
the mouth of the river. The fare from Jacksonville to 
enterprise is about $7. (Two boats a week via. Palatka.) 
The Magnolia House and the Florida House are the 
principal hotels at St. Augustine, and these are moder- 
ately comfortable- charges from $15 per week; nu 
■ the are a number of fairly kept boarding-houses m the 
place which are well patronized by strangers during the 
winter season. Essential improvements in the hotels are 
promised for the season of 1868-9. The Florida House 
Is to be in charge of a host who "knows how to keep a 
hotel," from a northern city. 

At Jacksonville there are a number of hotels and 
they have just got a charter from the legislature to build 
one on a large scale. 



62 ADDENDA. 

At Palatka there is a population of about 1,000 ; and 
they also have a charter for an extensive hotel and park. 
There are two large hotels, the Putnam House, and St. 
Johns House, both of whicli have the reputation of being 
as well kept as any liotels in the South. This place 
is famous for orange-groves. 

At Enterprise there is a large hotel which is hand- 
somely situated on the Lake Shore. There is a hotel at 
Hibernia, and one at Green Cove Spring, both being 
romantic situations on the bank of the River St. Johns 
between Jacksonville and Palatka. 

The prices of board at all the public and private 
houses named, range from $8 to $25 per week. 

The colored population in the Eastern part of the 
State and in the towns mentioned, is quite small compar- 
ed to other parts of the South, for the reason that the 
St. Johns Eiver country is newly settled, the lands bor- 
dering on its banks not being suitable for the culture of 
cotton, and only adapted to the cultivation of vegetables 
and fruit. Hence, of late there has been almost a mania 
for orange groves, and now there can be seen thousands 
of orange trees recently planted out on the river, by 
IS'orthern as well as Southern settlers, all of whom seem 
to toil side by side, and try to forget, in the charms of 
the climate and amidst their beautiful groves, that there 
had ever been trouble between their respective sections 
of country. 

No Northern visitor to Florida should fail to make 
the round trip up the St. John's River, as far as Enter- 
prise. 

Invalids returning North should graduate the change 
of climate by stopping for a time at Aiken, S. 0. 



ISTEW^ YOKK and FLORIDi^ 



— YIA- 



SAVANNAH, GEORGIA. 



SAW JACINTO, ) Empire Line. 

SAN SALVADOR, \ From Pier 8, N. R. 



One of the following Fivst-class Passenger Steaimhips leaves New 
roRK and Savannah every other day, as follows : 

LEO, ) Murray's Line. 

CLEOPATRA, \ From Pier 16, E. R., ft. of Wall st. 

GEN. BARNES, ) Atlantic Coast M. S. S. Line, 
H. LIVINGSTON, \ From Pier 36, N. R. 

Making close connections at Savannah with the Central M,It, 
of Georgid for all Points in the South and Southwest ; with the 
new Steamboats N'ic, King and Lizzie JBalcer for points on St. 
Johns Elver and Florida via Inland Route ; and with the Atlantic cC 
Gulf M,M. for all points in Florida. 

Through Passage Tickets issued at reduced rates to 
ALATRA, Fla. MACON, Ga. KEW ORLEANS, La. 

PICOLATA, Fla. COLUMBUS, Ga. QUINCY, Fla. 

Grecu Cove Springs, Fla. ATLANTA, Ga. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. 
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ALBANY, Ga. MONTICELLO, Fla. 
FERNANDL\A, Fla. ENFAULA, Ga, ORANGE MILLS, Fla. 
OIBERNIA, Fla. Montgomery, Ala. ENTERPRISE, Fla. 

AUGUSTA, Ga. MOBILE, Ala. LAKE CITY, Fla. 

Fassongcra for St. Auv;i\si'iNi',, purcba^e tickets to Picolata; thence 
jy Stage, three hours. 

For further infornialiun ttppl}' to 

MUEEAY, FEEPJS & CO., 

(il S 62 South Street. 

LIV^N&STON, FOX Sc CO., 

88 Liberty Street, 

VfK n. QARmSON, 

5 Boivling Green, 



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